What's your design philosophy?
Part of my initial design impulse is to dispense with all assumptions and baggage derived from precedents or convention. This aversion to the unnecessary may be related to the fact that, as someone who makes stuff for a living, I’m strangely allergic to having stuff. My ideal setup is to be responsible for managing, organizing, maintaining, remembering, locating, and minding as few items as possible. Striving for clarity via subtraction is probably present in my work, though I wouldn’t consider myself a minimalist in lifestyle or design practice. Boiling down a project to its essential characteristics and components is only one part of building up exactly what I want it to be.
What's your process for designing a new collection?
The design process for almost everything I do, from architecture to lighting to watches, typically starts with coming up with an idea or challenge that sounds fun and unique to me. I then play it out in endless iterations until I’ve found what I consider to be the perfect solution to either that initial challenge or to a completely new one that I found along the way. “Found” is the key word for me since my favorite designs feel like discoveries rather than inventions. In other words, the iterative process should take me somewhere new that I could have never foreseen when I started the project. It’s the opposite of Mozart in the movie “Amadeus” where he was said to have music fully finished in his head before simply writing it down on paper. Luckily, I think my process sounds much more fun.
What's your favorite project you've ever worked on?
It’s impossible to pick a favorite project out of all the types I’ve worked on over the years in various environments and circumstances. But one project that I’m very proud of is the Battlebot I designed and built as a teen. I taught myself CAD specifically to make a 120-pound middleweight remote-control robot to fight in that televised tournament. It boasted a welded skeleton made of waterjet-cut steel, was covered in aluminum skin, could drive using all 4 wheels even with flipped upside down, and sported a spinning, toothed drum that could probably take your foot off if you got too close
What's the most challenging aspect of being a designer?
For me, the most challenging part of being a designer is selling. I hate selling. It’s extremely uncomfortable promoting myself or my work in any way. It feels like an imposition to even send a marketing email once a year to those who voluntarily signed up for my mailing list. If I had my way, I’d spend all day and night just developing the ideas and products that interest me while others take my work and run with it, sending a cut of the proceeds so I can keep feeding my design habit (and my kids).
I do however love talking to anyone about all aspects of creative work. In other words, if someone asks me about my work, I’m more than happy to discuss.
How do you handle criticism of your designs?
I appreciate and encourage all criticism, especially comments that introduce a new idea or approach. Unfortunately that caliber of critique is not very common but it’s worth receiving any and all criticism in the hopes that some will be really good. Even criticism that isn’t particularly insightful is welcome just for amusement value. As an architect who trained and taught in architecture schools (and before that, a cello student and teacher), criticism is the primary tool we have for advancing our thinking and skills both individually and as a discipline, so anyone who can’t take it might want to find another craft.
